Denial is a River in the USA: No to Tiny Homes, Veggie Gardens, the Words “Islamic Terror,” Old Remedies

In this week’s Survival Saturday round-up, the news topics are all about denial: saying no and burying our heads in the sand here in the good old US of Nay. Steps toward personal independence? NO. Saying the words “Islamic terror?” NO. Using an ancient remedy Big Pharma can’t patent? NO. Calling a shovel a spade and discussing the real cause of antibiotic resistance? NO. NO. NO. Personal freedomand awareness are positively radical, folks. Cognitive dissonance, that’s what is encouraged.

Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.

This Week in the News

Here are the stories that caught my attention this week. You may notice a bit of a theme.

Will tiny homes and gardens become illegal?

If you don’t live the 9-5, consumerist, processed-food-soylent-green, compliant lifestyle of the majority of Americans, you can look for the things you do to become increasingly illegal. Who knew that living on the road or growing veggies would make you an outlaw one day? Here are two examples of overreaching laws meant to quash independence that are getting attention this week:

Soon it may be illegal to live in your RV or tiny house. HUD wants to pass a law requiring manufacturers to label tiny homes and RVs that they are not for full-time occupancy. Everyone who knows how the government works knows that this is merely a slippery slope. Once they’ve been declared “not homes” then a precedent has been set to make it illegal to live in them. (How dare you avoid paying 40% of your income to remain sheltered, peasant? You’ll stay indebted to your overlords for your housing!)

With another spring comes another front yard vegetable garden to be destroyed. A Missouri man is under pressure to rip out his vegetable garden or face the consequences. Last year he was fined for having weeds in his garden, and this year, he’s being fined for having it at all due to a brand new city ordinance aimed at him. (How dare you grow your own food, peasant? You’ll eat what we dole out!) If you want to be all brassy and grow food out there where everyone can see it, apparently you need to be stealthy. (This book can help.)

The Antibiotic Resistance Apocalypse Approacheth

Did you even know that there was a “national action plan” to fight antibiotic resistance? No? Neither does anyone else, and for good reason. President Obama’s carefully chosen “council” is ignoring the number one cause of antibiotic resistance while developing their plan: agricultural antibiotic use. “There are no targets—none—to reduce agricultural use of antibiotics, even as the council presses for reductions in the amount of antibiotics prescribed to people.” Emphasis mine. As politicians (and people in the pockets of politicians) it’s anethama to tick off the big spenders in Big Agri.

Back in 2014, blogger Lizzie Bennet from the UK warned that this was the biggest threat to mankind, bigger, even, than a nuclear holocaust, an asteroid strike, or societal collapse. “Children will die of tonsillitis, any type of orthopaedic surgery will become a lottery as infection in the bone is most unlikely to be survivable without antibiotics. Most forms of chemotherapy will be useless as antibiotic therapy is run alongside the treatment. Organ transplant patients are plagued by infections, none of which would be treatable. People would once again become insane as a side effect of syphilis, and other sexual transmitted diseases would run rampant through society.” (Read the rest of her well-thought-out warning HERE.)

Author Salman Rushdie says this is a terrible mistake. “…if you have a group of murderers who say–all of them–that they do it in the name of a particular prophet and a particular ideology, to say it’s not about that is just self-evidently evading the truth.”(You may recall that Rushdie’s irreverent depiction of the Prophet Muhammed in his book, The Satanic Verses, prompted the Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa for Rushdie’s death in 1989.)

Anyway, we should all stop being silly about the Muslim immigrants. They’re working hard to assimilate. To prove it, watch this quick video from Twitter of them marching through the streets in Germany, chanting, “With Allah’s help, we shall conquer you!”

They just want to be loved and accepted, duh. Stop being a racist.

The Bookshelf

I’ve been slacking on The Bookshelf lately because, well, I haven’t been reading as much, what with our recent move. Thankfully, things have settled down and I got to curl up and do some reading. (It didn’t hurt that I was without internet for a week and a half!) Here are this week’s picks for the books you need to have on your own bookshelf.

Remember how we were just taking about antibiotic resistance and simple remedies that you can make yourself, since you sure won’t get them from the doctor? Well, here’s your guide. You don’t have to pour over dusty archaic texts and try to figure out what oxgall is. Cat Ellis did it for you and she wrote this incredible book about home remedies. The ingredients are accessible, and you can grow many of them yourself. This book is loaded with safe, effective, and tested remedies that you can use to treat yourself if you find yourself in a situation in which professional medical care is not an option. The author is a long-time herbal practitioner and her advice is expert, easy-to-follow, and perfect for preppers. Get this book, then make a list of what you can grow and what you need to acquire.

First, let me say this right off the bat. I have the world’s biggest brain crush on Joel Salatin. I admire his work, his libertarian views, and his farming skills. This book sealed the deal for me. And considering the first topic of the discussion today, it couldn’t be more appropriate. It’s an enjoyable read that holds your interest while providing the facts about the food industry and exactly WHY everything we want to do is illegal. (SPOILER: It’s money. It’s always about the money.) Even if you never intend to plant a seed, you need to read this book, because you eat food, don’t you? ?

I’m strongly considering straw bale gardening this summer, and a book by Joel Karsten that I just picked up is pretty compelling. It’s relatively inexpensive, it doesn’t matter what your soil is like, and it’s apparently incredibly effective. “Straw Bale Gardens Completecontains all of the original information that has set the gardening world on fire. But it also goes much deeper, with nearly 50 pages of all-new advice and photos on subjects such as growing in a tight urban setting, making your straw bale garden completely organic, and using new fertilizers and conditioning products. There is even information on using straw bale techniques to grow veggies in other organic media for anyone who has a hard time finding straw.”

The Self-Reliance Weekly Report links you to all the best articles relating to prepping, homesteading, DIY, and independence.

This week, the topic is setting up your homestead as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Whether you’ve just moved (like me) or you want to turn your existing property into a more self-sufficient one, these tips from experts around the web will help you get the job done on a dime.

The Shopping Cart

This is the area for bargains, things I bought, and cool places to shop.

This week I ordered some signs from Amazon to increase the security of my homestead I’m posting these on my gates, and posting regular no-trespassing signs on the perimeter of the property.

This one is meant to warn strangers about the potential of being eaten by my 160 pound guard dog, Thor. I thought of putting up a regular “beware of dog” sign, but people aren’t always smart and I decided to be a little more blunt. My dog isn’t vicious, but he’s territorial, and no one gets past him without an invite from his mama.

I don’t have a camera pointed at my gate just because I want to take pictures. I want people to KNOW I’m taking pictures. My home is pretty remote, and out here, a lot of people are serious about security. Therefore, having a camera at the gate is not a big red flag that says “There’s lots of stuff to steal here!”

A sign announcing a video camera is proven to be a better deterrent than signs that say your home is monitored by a security company. (Especially if you actually have a video camera.) A criminal will often head for a house to rob where they are less likely to see themselves on the evening news.

Anything to add to Survival Saturday?

Do you have any news links you want to share? Now’s the time! You are absolutely welcome to post your links in the comments below. (Your participation is what makes this feature so unique out here in Bloggerland!)

About the AuthorDaisy Luther

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at [email protected]

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